Robert Ferrigno - The wake-up

Missy let the sheet slip from her breasts. "Vlad and Arturo might have surprised you."

"Maybe."

"Definitely."

"I got to award this one to Missy," said Clark, "which is why I find it hard to believe that Guillermo sent you." He pulled the sheet back over Missy's breasts. "Me and Guillermo got what's called a 'balance of terror' thing working between us. Vlad and Arturo scare the holy shit out of him, and I'm not a greedy man. Now, Guillermo can throw more troops into the fight, but if things get too messy, too public, the police and DEA move in, and we all lose."

"That's why Guillermo hired me. I clean up after myself."

"You're not greedy, Clark, but Guillermo is," said Missy.

"Don't start with that again," said Clark. "Did the Aryan Brotherhood send you to stir up trouble, Frank? Or was it the Yellow Magic boys? I know they're looking to expand operations. Come on, who hired you? I'll pay plenty for the truth."

Thorpe shrugged. "I just wanted to give you a heads-up. You do what you want."

"What I want is a hallucinogen that sharpens my reflexes, makes my dick hard, and improves my memory." Clark grinned. "I'm working on it, too."

Missy hadn't taken her eyes off Thorpe. "Listen to him, Clark."

"You want a war, Missy and I don't," said Clark. "Vlad and Arturo are good, the best, but they're only two men."

"Frank makes three," said Missy.

Thorpe didn't respond.

"Is that what you're here for?" asked Clark. "You offering your services? Was that stare-down with Cecil supposed to impress us?"

"Putting Cecil out of his misery wouldn't have impressed my grand-mother, and I don't want a job."

"Then why the heads-up?" Clark leaned forward on the bed. "Why are you being so nice to us, Frank?" His eyes were all pupil now. "Missy tells me everything. That's the basis of a good marriage."

"I always wondered what the basis was," said Thorpe.

"Now you know." A sharp edge in Clark's voice now. "So why the freebie?"

"No such thing as a freebie," said Thorpe. "I had a deal with Guillermo, but he's backing off, and I'm not about to wait around for the official cancellation. Consider this payback." He eyed Missy. "Besides, maybe we'll meet up again sometime and you'll remember when we were all in bed together. A man has to think long range in my business."

Missy shook her head. "If you're serious enough to take out Vlad and Arturo, no way would Guillermo stiff you." She nudged him with her foot, let it rest against him. "I'm a little disappointed, you coming up with this tall tale, Frank."

"I'm a little disappointed, you killing Betty B," snapped Thorpe. "Guillermo read her column and knew you'd take it hard. He started having doubts that I could pull things off, afraid you'd be mad at me for telling you the art was fake. He thought you might pull in the welcome mat."

"You did get pissed off at Frank after the article came out, babe," said Clark. "You got mad at him and Betty B and Meachum, and the Man in the Moon, too. You said you wished you had kept that damn stone plaque. Said it all looked plenty old anyway."

"I couldn't believe it when you flattened Betty B," said Thorpe. "Guillermo saw that on the news and told me to hold off on my end of the deal. He said he wanted to wait and see if you went after Meachum, too. Then all he would have to do was dime you out to the cops. The DA hates coincidences. I told him no way you would be that stupid, but Guillermo seems to think you are."

"Guillermo is going to have plenty to think about soon enough," said Missy.

Clark played with Missy's hair. "Actually, when you think about it… if Frank is telling the truth, killing Betty B saved our lives." He kissed her on the cheek. "Kudos, babe."

Thorpe slid off the bed, yawned. "You and Guillermo can work it out. I'm done."

"You go home, man, go home and tell whoever you're working for that we didn't buy the bullshit." Clark threw his pillow at Thorpe. "Dude wants to cause trouble. Split the alliance. Go on, get out of here before I make a phone call. You never even met Guillermo. He's the Invisible Man. Missy doesn't like him, but me and Guillermo, we got no beef. We got an arrangement."

Thorpe shrugged. "You might want to rethink that arrangement. Who do you think took down those two cookers of yours? Good night, Missy."

"Wait!" said Clark. "How do you know about the cookers?"

"You killed them?" said Missy.

"I don't do grunt work. I have too much respect for myself," said Thorpe. "Guillermo sent some vatos out to Riverside to do the job. Do it up good and sloppy. He wanted to see how you would respond. Little weakness on your part, Clark. That's blood in the water to someone like Guillermo."

Missy glared at Clark. "Exactly."

"You might want to make that phone call," said Thorpe. "I hope Vlad and Arturo are as ferocious as you think they are, because Guillermo has the taste now."

They called out to him, but Thorpe kept walking.

It was barely dawn as Thorpe closed the front gate behind him, the familiar squeak comforting, more from the implication of safety than for the suggestion that he was home. There was no home. He could see lights on in Claire's apartment. It had to be her; Claire was a runner, while Pam slept in. He hesitated, wanting to knock on her door, but didn't move. He was tired, but that wasn't what was stopping him, and it wasn't Kimberly, either. He had used her memory as an excuse long enough. She was dead. No, Thorpe's life was filled with secrets; there was no room for Claire inside. No room for anyone else.

He closed his door behind him, slid down to the floor, and held his head in his hands. He should have been happy. The Engineer hadn't shown up for Shock Waves, but Clark and Missy had bought his story. He had saved Douglas Meachum's life tonight, and probably saved Gina Meachum's, too. They would never know it, and that was fine. Let them go back to their house in a couple of weeks, flower leis draped around their necks, their vows renewed. Let them never know how close they had come to a visit from Vlad and Arturo.

In a few weeks, Gina might question where Thorpe was, ask around to see if he had bought a house. Meachum would curse Thorpe for missing their appointment, tell her that he'd never expected the man to buy anything, say Thorpe could at least have given him the courtesy of a phone call, though. Let them go on with their lives, uninterrupted. He smiled, thinking of Bishop. The bright spot in the whole fuckup. He had been so happy tonight, talking about his new life, his new plans. So rare to see change that happened for the best, not some vast unraveling or a series of missed opportunities. Bishop was going to make it. That was something.

Thorpe got up, went and started the shower. Warm, then cold, then warm again. When he was done, he changed into clean clothes, checked himself in the mirror, but not too closely. He moved quickly now, hurried out and across the courtyard, not making a sound. He knocked on Claire's door. He heard footsteps, saw the peephole darken, and then the door opened.

Claire looked him over, hands on her hips. She was wearing nylon shorts and an L.A. Marathon T-shirt. "You always manage to surprise me. That's one of your best qualities."

"I didn't know I had any others."

An hour later, Claire gazed at him from her side of the bed. She pushed back the covers, the two of them hot and steamy. "You're just one surprise after another."

"I said I was sorry about not getting back to you."

"Don't flatter yourself, Frank. I can handle a one-night stand. I just didn't think that was your style." Claire put her hand on his heart. "No, what I was surprised at is… this."

" 'This'?"

"You were so angry before that I couldn't keep up with you, didn't want to keep up… but now… you're so tender. We were together the whole time, every minute. What happened to you since the last time?"